Clover
by Gremlin23
Summary: Three unlikely friends and partners are called down to help a backwater colony against a far greater threat than they expected. Only the greatest of sacrifices will be enough to save this planet.


The clover mercenary company was having a very bad day. Not yet a year old, they had been en route from a successful escort job when they'd picked up a distress beacon from a backwater planet nearby. Turns out, the small colony was under attack from widow mines of all things. Like the plot from a very bad holovid, the colony had accepted the contract to build a factory to make the mines, only to have a software error cause the automated factory to start spewing the things out by the crate without entering the correct code for the internal IFF protocols.

"It's been a week now and there are more of them than ever. I thought you told me those vids were entertainment only Guss!" yelled a young protoss surrounded by flying drones firing lasers at the swarm of robots. "They were!" the terran engineer replied even as he was smashing robots with a pneumatic hammer while automated turrets fired at more distant targets, "I have not friggin clue where they're getting the material from."

A line appeared in the field of robots as an invisible force carved them in two as it approached the battle line. "There is more here than meets the eye comrades," said a female nerazim as she faded into view, "I managed to get in sight of the factory and saw what I believe are M.U.L.E units dismantling nearby buildings and carrying the material back to the factory. What's more, a nearby turret somehow detected me and opened fire, else I would have disabled the factory itself."

"How the hell did the factory get mules?" the terran exclaimed, "I'm starting to think we've been set up." "Perhaps not," the male protoss replied, "if Mirae could take my place here, I would like to test a theory." The female, Mirae, stopped flitting about slashing robots apart with her two writstblades and instead stepped into the gap in the automated defence perimeter. "Be fast Irex," she said, "I do not think we are long for this plane if their numbers do not lower."

Free to focus on one thing, the male protoss pulled up a holographic interface and tossed a previously-unused sphere up to float in the air above him. "It is as I feared," he said as he looked through the data on the screen in front of him, "Someone tried to copy the purifier program with terrans. Criminals to be precise." The lone terran swore colourfully, "I swear some people have the dumbest ideas. Let me guess, they left their base somewhere underground and forgot to take along their AI nutjobs." "Indeed," Irex replied, "you got that exactly right. Fortunately, I can erase the program." "And what," Mirae asked, "is the bad news?"

With a few flicks of his fingers more Irex closed the interface and moved back to the front to assist in the fight. "I have erased the software intelligence and as a result no more materials are being fed into the factory. The mines are also no longer dragging the parts off their compatriots back to the factory." "I'm not gonna like this am I?" Gus asked rhetorically. "There are still more mines than we three could hope to contain. Even with your stims, we will tire and fall eventually. Not to mention the food and drink situation." The others were silent as they absorbed his statement. "Well fuck," Gus summed up.

"How long do we have?" the work boss asked the mercenary. "Well," Gus replied, "That's the thing. We can keep them out for you, but this storage facility has nothing in the way of food or water. We'd eventually start suffering from thirst and with one slip-up the line would fall. Even with the waste converters, we'd run out sooner than it would take." "Couldn't your alien friends do their magic stuff?" Came the expected question. "No, Irex is a smith and Mirae is Nerazim. While quite strong, neither of them know how to make psychic attacks. They do drones and sneak attacks, not ripping apart reality. Even if one of them were Templar, they're young and wouldn't have the training yet. No, we are screwed basically. Thought I'd tell you." "Friend Guss," Irex's voice came from his wrist communicator, "Mirae and I have discussed it and there is one more option we could try, though it would cost us dearly. We could merge." Guss frowned, "You mean like become one of those archons, you know how to do that?" "Indeed," Mirae replied, "It is only a little different from protoss mating rituals, though it goes much further."

"Why haven't you done it before then? I mean those guys are crazy strong!" Guss asked, a suspicion forming in the back in his mind he hoped was wrong. "Because it is permanent," came the response. "And we would not live long afterwards," Irex added, "The power is overwhelming and most archons burn out in days. One lasted much longer, but was driven insane. Given our inexperience and ages, I don't think that will be a problem for us though." "So basically our options are to all die or you two die." Gus said with a frown. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he give his life for his friends," said Mirae, "I read that in an old terran book once and thought it very fitting for archons." "So the question now becomes," said Irex, "how long do we wait and hope someone else hears the beacon?"

"Hang on," Guss suddenly shouts, "What about that AI you killed? If it could control the factory, couldn't you take control of it instead?" "I am afraid not," Irex replied, "While I could control the factory production, all it would do is make more malfunctioning mines. There is an inherent fault in the core system responsible for installing the IFF. Ironically, it is isolated from the rest of the network specifically to prevent tampering with the code from outside." "And before you ask," added Mirae, "While I could now sneak into the factory, Irax's communicator doesn't have the range to reach me there to tell me how to correct the error." "Great," Guss said as he started walking back to the entrance, "so we're still screwed. Can't even relay the signal with the grasshopper since our wonderful hosts accidentally blew out the engine when we landed. And since we don't actually know what's wrong with the system and she's no engineer, we can't even give her the instructions to use when she gets there. Fuck all kinds of duck."

They tried to hold out a few more days, with workers in SCV suits helping out where they could so the three could occasionally get some rest. Eventually, however, they had to concede that help wasn't coming when the work boss reported that there would be no more water. "The converter's done in," he said apologetically, "We've been rationing ourselves to make it last for the fighters, but this is it." Guss sighed and nodded. "I guess this is it buds," he said to the two protoss. "It has been an honour friend Guss," Irex said solemnly. "For me as well, remember us and tell of this day," Mirae added. With that the smith entered a last few commands to the remote drones before the two protoss embraced and started glowing.

"Stand back!" their voices seemed to come in tandem. The terrans made a space even as they had to keep fighting off the robots. The glow became a blinding flash before it receded and in the space of the two protoss there floated a being of almost pure energy. "Power!" came the now merged voices. The strain was audible in their voice and they seemed to shudder slightly, "Overwhelming!" Mere moments later they managed to find some outlet for the forces threatening to rip them apart as a robot came too near and they lashed out with a blast of plasma.

"The merging is complete," they said more calmly now, though the voices still sounded as though a fire raged behind them, "Now you shall see why all fear the wrath of an Archon." With that the being floated over the barricades and began tearing apart the robots in great swathes. More and more widow mines rushed in to fill the gaps, but nothing seemed to be able to stop the Archon's destruction and between it, the terrans and the automated weapons they began seeing open ground in the distance as the horde finally started thinning out.

A week later a Hercules transport finally arrived from orbit. "What happened here?" the captain asked as she stared at the piles and piles of robot parts spread across a pain. "Your distress call just said you needed humanitarian aid to survive rebuilding, nothing about what destroyed the colony in the first place." A man in his late twenties snorted, kicking the torso of a nearby robot away. "You know those awful holovids about spider mines going nuts?" he asked her with a wry grin. "You're joking!" she gasped, "Really?!" Slinging an arm over her shoulders he lead her towards a bar that somehow survived the destruction. "Girl, you have no idea…"


End file.
